


Scarlet-Faced

by holy_ship



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: F/F, Kadena, my wlw babies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-04 21:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11564034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holy_ship/pseuds/holy_ship
Summary: After Kat gets a text from Adena about needing to talk to her about something important, she makes plans to meet up with her.I'm also on tumblr @adena-el-haught if you wanna come scream at me about Kadena or whatever.





	1. Chapter 1

Kat froze as soon as she read the text from Adena.

**Adena: I actually have something I need to talk to you about.**

Not ten seconds later, a second text came through.

**Adena: It's important.**

Her stomach flipped as she read the words, and she hated herself for it. After the night at the gallery, she was trying her best not to think about Adena- especially in _that_ way.

**Kat: What's up?**

The sooner Adena responded with whatever she needed, the sooner Kat's stomach could unknot itself. 

Did Adena notice the way Kat had been furtively glancing at her when they were together? Could she tell that she was nervous around her? Maybe she picked up on the fact that Kat could barely string together coherent sentences around her and wanted to tell her to back off because she had a girlfriend. 

Kat's mind wandered back to that night at the gallery. Up until that point, she had been able to tell herself that it was nothing more than a girl crush. That she just thought Adena was cool and wanted to be her friend. When she saw that woman walk up to her and kiss her- when she watched Adena kiss that woman  _back_ , she knew that she cared about her as more than a friend. If she was being honest, her heart broke a little bit at the sight, and for the rest of the evening, she felt more than a little queasy. 

Her phone pinged, signaling another text, and it shook her from her thoughts.

**Adena: Can we talk in person?**

If Kat had thought that her stomach couldn't flip any more than it already had been, she was wrong. What could Adena want to talk to her about that warranted an in-person discussion?

"Jane!" she whisper-yelled to her friend, who was working on an article a couple desks away.

Jane looked up from her computer with a quizzical expression.

"Come here," Kat pleaded, "I need you to read these texts from Adena and tell me what you think."

Jane stood up, smoothed out her skirt, and walked over, sitting square in Kat's lap and grabbing her phone out of her hands. She scrolled through the messages and turned to Kat, eyes wide. 

"You don't think it could be about.." Jane trailed off, not wanting to startle her friend.

It didn't help.

"I don't know!" Kat practically yelled, throwing her hands up. "What do I say back?!" she asked, the tone of her voice increasing a full octave as she began to sound a bit hysterical.

Jane grabbed Kat's face on either side to center her. "Hey. You don't even know what she wants to say yet. Don't start jumping to conclusions yet. Just act normal."

"Normal, right.. I can do that." Kat took her phone back from Jane and typed out a quick message, trying not to overthink it. Stressed about meeting a deadline, Jane stood up, rested her hands on Kat's shoulders for a moment, and shuffled back to her desk. 

**Kat: Yeah, of course. Just let me know where and when you wanna meet up.**

As soon as she sent it, she frowned down at her phone. She sounded a little over eager. _Oh well_ , she thought, _it's too late now_. 

Adena must have had her phone right on her as well, because she responded within the minute. 

**Adena: If you aren't working too late, you could come by my place tonight? It isn't far from Scarlet.**

Kat's breath caught in her lungs. Adena's apartment? They had hung out in her studio together, surrounded by the life-sized photographs of women who were misunderstood like herself, but her apartment? That was something else entirely. Kat couldn't help but smile a little bit at being invited to her home. Not quite thinking through the implications of a visit to Adena's apartment, she texted her assent and received a nearly automatic reply with an address. 

"So... I guess I'm gonna head out and stop by Adena's place on my way home.." Kat said quietly, hoping that Jane would hear her.

And hear her Jane did.

"Her place? Like, her apartment? Like where she lives? Most likely with her girlfriend?" Jane questioned in rapid succession.

Instantly, all the color drained from Kat's face. "Shit. I didn't even think about that. Shit." She panicked for a moment before taking three deep breaths and forcing herself into composure. "No. This is fine. Everything is fine. Who cares? I don't even like Adena like that. It was just a silly crush. I'm over it." Kat glanced up, hoping that she sounded convincing.

Jane's face told her that she did not. "Riiiiight.. We'll go with that," she said, nodding slowly. If Kat wanted to tell herself that, then she would let her. She wasn't fooling anybody.

Suddenly, Kat felt a sense of urgency to get this little visit over with so that she could get home and pour herself a large glass of wine. "Alright Jane, I'm leaving," she sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hey, hey, hey- text me when you leave and let me know how it went, okay? And when you're home safely!" Jane was pointing a finger at her as though she were scolding her.

Kat rolled her eyes, but was secretly touched by how much her friends showed that they really cared about and supported her.

"Okay, _mom_ , I will." She grabbed her purse from the back of her chair, turned off her computer monitor, and rushed toward the lobby and out into the cool night air.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to paraphrase some of the dialogue from the sneak peek and incorporate it here. I hope you guys enjoy Chapter 2!
> 
> Edit: In the original posting of this chapter, I had written them drinking wine- thank you to the user who informed me that Muslims do not in fact drink alcohol! (I posted this before I had done some more research and before 1x04 aired). Oops! It's been edited and I've done a bit more research so hopefully I won't make the same mistake! Please feel free to let me know about anything like that in the future- I don't take offense, but rather see it as an opportunity to be educated on something I currently don't know much about. Thanks for reading. :)

Twenty minutes after Kat left Scarlet, she was staring up at a ten story high-rise. She glanced down at her phone and then back up at the building to be sure she had the right place. When she confirmed that this in fact was the correct building, she took a deep breath and climbed the small set of stairs leading up to the doors.

She scanned the list of tenants located to the right of the doors until she found Adena's name, then rang the buzzer to signal her arrival and be granted entrance. She quickly double-checked which unit Adena resided in and pulled one of the heavy doors open when she heard them click as they unlocked.

Once she was in the building, she started to freak out a little bit. Was she going to have to interact with Adena's girlfriend? Would she have to watch them kiss again? Just the thought made her stomach tighten. She took the stairs to the fourth floor and scanned the plaques beside each door until she found 4H. She took another deep breath and knocked three times in quick succession.

She waited mere seconds before the door swung open and Adena was standing there, smiling at her. Kat felt like she had been punched in the gut. Every time Adena smiled at her, she found herself just a little bit breathless and she cursed her lungs for it.

"Kat," Adena said as she leaned forward and pulled her into a hug, "I'm so glad you found the place alright." She stepped back to allow room for Kat to get by. "Please, come in."

Kat stepped into the apartment and found herself surprised by the size of the place. It was more spacious than she had imagined (not that she had been imagining it). Along the right wall was a kitchenette, separated from the rest of the room by a tall counter with two bar stools against it. In the middle of the room sat a burgundy couch that reminded Kat of the hijab Adena had worn when she surprised her at Scarlet after her return to the United States. She remembered seeing Adena wear the same hijab the night of her show, and she frowned at the memory of the woman cozying up to her friend.

 _The girlfriend_ , she remembered with a jolt. She began looking around for any signs of her. She noticed two doors off of the main room, which she assumed were the bathroom and Adena's bedroom. She continued scanning the room until she heard the door close.

When she turned back to face Adena, the photographer looked confused. "Are you... looking for something?" she asked, eyebrows raised, lower lip jutting out just the tiniest bit.

Kat's eyes lingered on Adena's lips for just a fraction of a second longer than what is socially acceptable, and when she looked up, Adena looked amused. "What? Oh, um, just.." Kat started, wanting to ask whether or not she lived alone before she realized it was none of her business. "...no. No, I'm not. Just checking out your humble abode," she joked, trying desperately to change the subject.

"I am the only one here, if that's what you were wondering," Adena said.

Kat tried to look as though the thought never crossed her mind, but the look on Adena's face told her that she saw right through her.

"Oh. Right." She wanted to say more, but she had no idea what to say.

Adena moved toward the kitchenette. "My girlfriend left two days ago to go back to France. She has work there." She opened a cupboard and took out two glasses. She set them on the counter and grabbed a bottle of sparkling grape juice from the fridge. She held up the bottle as though asking Kat if she'd like some. 

"Please, some wine would be great. And I'm sorry to hear that," Kat said, not sorry in the slightest.

She watched as an almost undetectable smile flitted across Adena's face and left as quickly as it came. 

"It's not wine, actually. I do not drink. I hope it's still alright?" When Kat simply smiled and nodded, she continued. "And there's no need to be sorry. It is difficult, but we have done it before. Please make yourself comfortable," she said, indicating her couch. 

Kat set her purse down on the counter and made her way over to the couch. She folded her legs up underneath her and leaned against the arm of the couch, attempting to appear relaxed. A moment later, Adena was handing her a rather large glass of the sparkling juice and taking a seat opposite her. 

"Oh boy," Kat joked, "you're being extra hospitable. This must be a really serious conversation." She immediately regretted saying it when she looked up and saw that Adena looked truly anxious. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" 

"No, no. Don't feel bad. I did not mean to make you nervous. I'm actually nervous myself to ask you what I need to ask you," Adena admitted. She awkwardly tucked a strand of hair back up into her hijab with the hand that wasn't holding the glass. 

As Kat watched her do this, she found herself wondering how many hijabs her friend owned. She wore a different one nearly every time she had seen her. They were often tied differently around her head, her gold hoop earrings dangling down on either side. She then began to wonder what Adena's hair looked like underneath the hijab. Did she usually wear it around the house, or was she just wearing it because Kat was there? 

The clearing of a throat stopped her rumination dead in its tracks. 

"Oh, gosh. Don't be nervous," she recovered. "You can ask me anything. Ask away," she said, a little too brightly. 

A wicked, mischevious grin appeared on Adena's face. "I can ask you anything, you say?"

Kat's smile faltered. _Shit_. Rather than saying anything, she simply shrugged, lost for words. 

Adena's smile grew larger as an airy laugh escaped her mouth. "I am just teasing you." After a moment, she became much more serious. "What I wanted to tell you was that my work visa is almost up. However, I'd like to try to extend it."

Kat felt both stressed and relieved by this piece of news. "That's great. Are you trying to put together another show?" 

"I am not sure yet. I just feel like my work here is not done. The process to extend it, however, is a nightmare. So many documents and character references are needed in order to determine that I should be allowed to stay." 

Kat tried to find a question within Adena's explanation. Surely this couldn't be all she wanted to tell her? 

"Yikes. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with," she replied, seeing an opportunity to spend more time with the young artist. 

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I know it's a lot to ask, but I was hoping that you might be willing to write a character reference for me." Adena had a look on her face as though she was afraid Kat might say no. 

Flustered, Kat floundered for a moment before responding. "Totally, yeah. Of course. Here, I'll send out a quick tweet right now about how awesome you are and tag the U.S. government." She tried at a joke, hoping to relieve Adena of some of the stress she was obviously feeling. 

Adena laughed, and the fond look with which she often regarded Kat was on full display. 

For a moment, they simply looked at one another and smiled. Kat's stomach flipped and she had to look away, blushing as she did so. 

"But.. in all seriousness, Kat, I appreciate this very much. It means a lot to me," Adena confided. She leaned over and placed her hand over the top of Kat's, causing Kat to nearly drop her glass. 

For a few seconds that felt like an eternity to Kat, Adena allowed her hand to rest on her friend's. It was only when the social media director cleared her throat and began chugging the rest of her drink that she pulled it away. 

With one last gulp, Kat finished her juice and set the glass gently down on the coffee table. "I'm sorry to duck out so soon, but I've actually got to go. I have to be to work pretty early tomorrow to prepare for this presentation for an idea I'm pitching to the board." She quickly stood and walked over to the counter to grab her purse. 

"Oh! Sure." Adena said, surprised at the sudden departure. She rose from the couch and walked over to the door. "I hope you do well. I'm sure you will." She smiled warmly as she opened and held the door for Kat. 

At those words, a little bit of Kat's anxiety over the presentation melted away. Ever since she had messed up the first pitch, she had found herself more nervous for this presentation than she ever had for any other. 

She smiled back at Adena and hugged her quickly. She'd discovered that it was when she lingered that she began thinking about kissing Adena.. among other things. She turned to go.

"Be safe, okay? Will you let me know when you get home?" Adena asked. 

Kat felt a little tingle when she heard those words and had a sudden urge to turn around and kiss her friend senseless. Thinking about doing this made her feel tingly all over, and she could do little more than give her friend a small nod and a tight-lipped smile and force herself not to run from the building. 

Once the cold night air hit her face, she could finally breathe. She sat down on the concrete steps and buried her head in her hands.

She was practically head over heels for her unavailable  _female_ friend. 

What had she gotten herself into? 

She thought about it logically and resolved to hold off on contacting Adena for awhile. She would let her know when she got home and send her the character reference and that would be it. When you go through a breakup, it just takes time to get over it. Surely a crush was the same way? She needed time to get over this infatuation with her beautiful, talented, outspoken- _no_!

She wouldn't let her brain go there. They were friends. Just friends. Adena had a girlfriend, and as much as it hurt to think about that right now, in a few weeks she will have forgotten all about this whole situation. 

Satisfied with her plan, Kat stood up, brushed herself off, and headed toward the subway station. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Not contacting Adena had not been as easy as Kat had made it out to be in her head.

Three days had passed and Kat was considering putting herself in handcuffs so that she wouldn't text her. At this point, it seemed like the only thing that might be able to prevent her from doing so.

"Just text her, Kat!" Sutton urged, sitting cross-legged atop the ottoman at the center of the fashion closet.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Kat eyes bugged out of her head and she threw her hands up in the air. "What's the worst that could happen?! Oh, let me see, I could fall even more for an unattainable, un-single woman who would never see me as more than a friend and get my heart broken. Yeah, that's it. No big deal."

She looked mildly embarrassed at her outburst but quickly hid it by standing up and aimlessly rifling through the dresses on one of the racks.

Jane, who was across the room trying on different pairs of heels, gave her a sympathetic look. She had never seen Kat like this and she was beginning to worry about her friend. She had been there. Boy, had she been there. It wasn't easy to fall for someone who was in a relationship. It was torturous. "Well, I guess you need to decide what you'd rather have. A regular friendship with Adena, or no relationship with her at all. You have to do what's best for you, hun," Jane stated, stepping into a pair of shiny red 6-inch stilettos.

From atop her perch, Sutton nodded her head in agreement.

Kat sighed. Sometimes she wished that her friends weren't so practical and wise. It made her feel like she was flailing even more than she already did. "I don't just care about her because I like her," she said, lowering the volume of her voice on the last two words, "I genuinely care about her as a person. I don't know if I could deal with not seeing her again. Plus I have to write this letter for her and probably deliver it to her. She isn't exactly tech-savvy." Even as she was saying it, she realized that she had no idea what to write or how to write it. "Shit. I really have to write a damn letter to immigration. How do I even go about that?!"

Before either of her friends had time to answer, she continued. "Oh my god, I'm going to be the reason she gets kicked out of the country." Her face held a look of panic and despair all at once.

Sutton tried to swallow the laugh that was forming in her throat but failed miserably. "Kat! Get a hold of yourself," she laughed, "I doubt that her fate lies solely in your hands. But it might not be a bad idea for the two of you to get together again to talk about it. It definitely won't hurt her cause to have a kick-ass letter written by none other than Kat Edison, Social Media Director at Scarlet Magazine." She smiled at Kat the way a mother might smile at her child who was just named class valedictorian.

Jane, never one to pass up a chance to put in her two cents, jumped in. "Ooh! That's a great idea! Then you can spend more time with her and build a solid foundation for a super _platonic_ friendship," she added, stressing the word 'platonic.' She really was happy that Kat found someone she cared about, but she didn't want Kat to get hurt by holding out hope that she and Adena might become more than friends.

"Fine, fine. FINE. I'll text her. Jeez." Kat pulled out her phone and opened up her text message thread with Adena.

**K: Hey. Are you free tonight? I was thinking we could get together to talk about the letter I'll be writing for you.**

She quickly stashed her phone back in her pocket. Out of sight, out of mind, right? "She probably won't get back to me for awhile, she's not a big phone person," she said, more for her benefit than anybody else's. No sooner had the words left her mouth than her text tone went off, the sound slightly muffled by the material of her pants.

She acted as casual as she could while taking her phone out of her pocket, struggling to maintain neutrality of her features.

**A: I am. I'd love to see you. Your place or mine?**

She almost choked as she read Adena's response. She knew that the artist didn't mean anything by it, but it sounded flirtatious to Kat. How was she supposed to develop a normal friendship with Adena when she kept reading into situations and seeing signs that simply weren't there?

Realizing that she couldn't even remember the last time she cleaned her own apartment, she resolved to go back to Adena's place after work to talk about the letter. She sent off a quick text letting Adena know when she'd be by and stuffed her phone back into her pants pocket.

"Why don't we go out and have a couple drinks after work before you head over so that you're not so strung out when you get there. What do ya say?" Jane asked, wanting to help her rather helpless looking friend.

Kat agreed with a hesitant nod of her head. "I have to get back to work. Jacqueline is not going to be happy if I can't get this campaign off the ground. Grab me when you're ready to head over to the bar, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she pulled open the door and made a beeline back to her desk.

Back in the fashion closet, Sutton and Jane were silent for several moments. Jane matched up all the heels she had tried on and carefully placed them back on the shoe wall. "Sooo..." she began, unsure about what to say next.

"Yeah, she's totally screwed," Sutton said, not bothering to mince words.

"Totally."

*****

By the time six o'clock rolled around, Kat was beginning to freak out again. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Adena's face kept popping up in her mind and every time it did, she felt like she was being strangled. She couldn't stop picturing Adena's brown eyes. They were so dark and yet so soulful. Kat felt like her eyes showed such vulnerability, yet she still felt like she couldn't get a read on her. Sometimes Kat was convinced that Adena felt the same way. Other times, she felt like she was receiving a swift kick to the gut when she remembered that Adena had a girlfriend, and therefore it didn't matter whether her feelings were requited or not.

The walk to the bar was short. It was only a few blocks away, and it had been the trio's go-to spot when one or all of them needed to wind down and relax.

Kat felt like she needed to relax now more than ever. As soon as they arrived, she hopped up onto a bar stool and ordered three shots of tequila. Sutton and Jane flanked her on either side and gave one another a pointed look when they heard "shot" and "tequila" come out of Kat's mouth. Not thirty seconds later, Kat's shot was long gone and she was urging her friends to hurry up and take theirs. She asked the bartender for a whiskey sour and grabbed it like it was her one and only lifeline when it arrived.

"You know what?" she began, "I think Jane is right. I just need to chill out. I'll just have a few drinks with my two best friends and be on my way." She happily sipped away at her drink, looking from Jane to Sutton and back again.

Jane tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyes. "A couple? I personally was thinking more along the lines of a singular drink.." she trailed off, hoping that Kat would understand that she thought "a few" drinks was a really bad idea.

"Yeah. It's fine, you guys. I can hold my liquor. You know that." At this point, she was sucking every last drop off of the ice cubes at the bottom of her glass. She rolled her eyes at her friends. Sutton was usually the mom friend, but Jane was really earning that title tonight.

After their shots, Jane and Sutton each got a glass of wine. They sipped them slowly while the three women chatted animatedly about their day. Kat looked down every few seconds, repeatedly checking her watch. She told Adena that she'd be there between seven thirty and eight, and it would take her at least fifteen minutes to walk to Adena's apartment from the bar. At seven fifteen, she announced that she should leave soon.

"Ah! Okay, I gotta use the bathroom real quick before we go. I'll never make it all the way home," Sutton said, pushing herself away from the bar and hopping off her stool.

"Me too!" Jane said, hurrying after Sutton.

Against her better judgment, Kat looked over her shoulder to be sure that the other women were out of sight before quickly ordering another shot. The bartender set the shot down in front of her and she tossed it back immediately. It burned as it traveled down her throat and warmed her up as it settled in her stomach. "Thank you. Keep the change," she offered, taking a twenty out of her wallet and slapping it down on the bar. 

She slung her cross-body bag over her torso and waited for Jane and Sutton by the door. A minute later, they arrived and each hooked an arm through hers, Jane on the right, Sutton on the left. They pushed through the door and out into the cool evening air.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, as she predicted, she was closing in on Adena's block. She felt more than a little tipsy and began to seriously regret sneaking that last shot. Why was feeling the alcohol so much?

 _Oh, shit._ She internally scolded herself as she realized that she had skipped lunch today. The degree to which she was feeling the effects of the drinks was only going to increase from this point, and she began to wonder if she should really be going over to Adena's in this state at all. Was she going to get mad because she doesn't drink herself? Would she judge Kat for being under the influence?

While she knew that she should care, she couldn't quite bring herself to- mostly likely another result of her consumption.

As soon as she reached the building, she rang the buzzer. A few moments later, the doors unlocked and she began to climb the stairs to Adena's apartment, slightly unsteady on her feet.

She raised a fisted hand to knock on the door, but it was swung open before she got the chance.

Adena stood there with a big grin on her face and without skipping a beat, enveloped Kat in a hug.

It felt good. Too good, and Kat knew that she was holding her a bit longer than was strictly necessary, but she didn't care. She gave her one final squeeze and stood back.

Once she got a better look at the photographer, her lips parted slightly and she felt like a pair of hands were constricting her windpipe. Her stomach bottomed out and butterflies erupted from the pit of it and traveled up into her lungs and down her arms, making her hands feel tingly. Adena stood in front of her without a hijab, her dark hair tucked behind her ears, the grown-out bangs escaping and falling into her face. Kat had a primal urge to reach forward and tuck the strands back behind her ear, to ghost her fingertips across Adena's cheek as she did so. Her lowered inhibition acted as an accomplice to her runaway thoughts, and she lifted her hand up as far as mere inches from Adena's face before a sharp inhalation of breath from the other woman snapped her out of her trance. Kat shook her head slightly and let her arm fall back to her side, heart racing.

For several moments, neither of them spoke. Kat refused to meet Adena's eyes, but Adena's were boring into her, looking for an answer to an unasked question.

When the silence persevered and stretched on, Adena let the air slowly escape her lungs and cleared her throat, waving her hand as if to wave away the moment with it.

"I know," Adena said, attempting to regain her composure, "you have not seen me without my hijab before. It's like you're seeing me naked," she laughed, failing to realize the implications of her words before uttering them.

She soon understood, however, when Kat froze and seemed to stop breathing. It was becoming increasingly evident to her that she was not helping the situation, unspoken words hanging in the air between them, so rather than risk saying something else, she turned her back on Kat and rummaged through her cupboards for some hummus and pita chips. "I'm glad you contacted me," she started, ignoring the tension in the air, "I was worried about you the other day when you left so abruptly."

Kat blinked a few times and had to wait a moment to fully process Adena's words.  _The other day.. worried_.. _left abruptly_..

"O-Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I um.. I wasn't.. feeling well," she finished lamely and unconvincingly. She walked on two wobbly legs over to the counter, feeling drunker by the minute.

"Mhmm.." Adena hummed, appraising Kat with skeptical eyes. "Let me ask you something."

"Ask me anything," Kat smiled lazily, holding her arms out to represent her openness.

Adena let out a small, soft laugh and Kat wanted to bottle it up and listen to it over and over again.

"Are you drunk, Kat Edison?"

Kat's hand flew up to her mouth as if she couldn't believe what she was being accused of. "Am I-- Am I--?!" She laughed at her own silliness and slapped a hand on the counter top. "Maybe a little bit.." she admitted, bowing her head ashamedly and looking up through her lashes like a puppy.

If Adena hadn't known before that she was in trouble with this woman, she knew now, looking at Kat's adorable guilty face.

"You're funny. I like that about you," she said softly, trying to take a mental photograph of Kat's expression.

The darker-skinned woman just sat there with a goofy smile on her face watching the other woman eat her snack until a question popped into her head. "Hey, how old are you?" she asked tactlessly.

Adena laughed that soft laugh again and Kat was enchanted. "I am twenty-eight. Why do you ask?"

Kat looked pensive and went quiet for several moments. When Adena realized that she was not going to get an answer, she asked the same question of Kat.

"Twenty-five" was all she said before walking across the apartment and flopping down on the couch.

The older woman abandoned her snack and followed Kat to the couch, seeming to weigh her seating options before sitting two cushions over and tucking both legs underneath her. "I have to say, Kat, that I don't think your current state is ideal for a discussion aboit the letter," she offered gently, not wanting the other woman to think that she was upset with her. She had to admit that she was rather amused by Kat's lack of reservation.

Kat's puppy dog eyes returned and dammit if Adena didn't get lost in them after about three seconds. "I know, I know. I'm sor- sorry," Kat hiccuped, "I don't want you to think that I'm not taking it seriously, because I really want you to stay. I just needed something to take the edge off, ya know?"

Adena looked surprised. There was a lot to unpack in this one sentence. Kat really wanted her to stay? Was she referring to needing to take the edge off before coming to see her? Was Kat nervous around her? She had so many questions, very few of which she could ask without feeling guilty. She chose the safest one. "What do you mean you needed to 'take the edge off'?" She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes slightly, not sure that she even wanted to hear Kat's next words.

Kat's eyes widened almost comically, her mouth dropping open and snapping shut again. "I-What? I didn't.. uhh.." she floundered, unwilling to admit that Adena put her on edge. She needed to change the subject immediately. She was drunk. She couldn't form coherent thoughts. She was on the spot. She blurted out the first thing that popped into her head--

"-I had a sex dream about you once," she practically shouted.

Of all the things Adena was expecting to hear out of Kat's mouth, that was at the very bottom of the list. She looked directly at Kat. The other woman looked horrified. Embarrassed. Like she would rather be anywhere but here.

Adena, however, was quite amused and intrigued. She tilted her head and arched a single eyebrow, the corners of her mouth lifting into what you could only describe as a smirk. "Is that so?" She asked lightly, good-naturedly.

Kat sputtered for several seconds, her facial features cycling through the whole gamut of emotions before Adena put her out of her misery.

"I'm just teasing you, Kat. People have dreams all the time that do not mean anything, right?" She smiled warmly, trying to soothe Kat's obvious mortification.

The social media director didn't answer at first. She opened her mouth several times and shut it again as she fidgeted with her fingers and kept her eyes cast downward. "Let's pretend I never said that, okay? You probably didn't need to know that." She chanced a glance up at Adena and was relieved when she was only met with those beautiful, understanding brown eyes.

"Never said what?" Adena feigned ignorance, allowing the moment to pass and the atmosphere to return to its earlier neutrality.

Suddenly feeling stone-cold sober, Kat excused herself to the bathroom. Once inside, she splashed cold water on her face and peered into the mirror at her reflection.

"You are in such deep shit, Edison," she mumbled to herself as she watched the water droplets fall from her face and hit the bottom of the sink one by one.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hi! Good morning/afternoon/night! 
> 
> I want to say THANK YOU to the anon from tumblr who allowed me to use the "it's like you're seeing me naked" line in regards to her not wearing a hijab. It's something that happened to them and I loved it and they said that I could incorporate it into my story. I do not claim that idea as my own! 
> 
> The rest is mine, so let me know what you think! Much love.


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